Fudgy Candy Oat Bars

A brown sugary whole wheat and oat crust is topped with a gooey, sweet layer filled with red and green chocolate pieces. 🙂

Since my Christmas decor is going up this week, I think the first holiday recipe of the season is in order. So, I present these Christmas Fudgy Candy Oat Bars! This recipe is actually a new one instead of an old favorite. Most of the Christmas ideas I’m sharing this year will be old recipes instead of new, but I made these bars last Friday and they turned out well, so I decided to go ahead and post them first.

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I debated whether to use regular candy coated chocolate pieces or candy coated peanut butter pieces. Casey and I like peanut butter, so I decided to try that. The result is a fun twist on a bar that you would normally expect to contain just chocolate. If you don’t like peanut butter, feel free to use chocolate pieces instead.

These bars have three layers that all bake together into one fudgy dessert. The bottom layer is made with a combination of oats, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and butter. On top of that I pour a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and chocolate pieces, and then I sprinkle a final layer of the oats and brown sugar mix over the sweetened condensed milk. Of course I put a few of the red and green candy pieces on top to give the bars that “Christmasy” look.

While taking pictures, I decided to take a bite to show the texture of the bar, and then I may have eaten the rest of the bar even though I didn’t originally plan to do so. (That means they’re good, right?)

Note: This recipe is adapted from a recipe in a cookbook by Southern Living. The book is called Incredible Cookies, and has some other amazing recipes. I tried to find the original bar recipe on their website so I could link to it, but was unable to do so. The cookbook is close to 20 years old, so that may be why!

Fudgy Candy Oat Bars

Servings: about 24 bars
Time: 50 minutes
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Ingredients

2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (I also like to use half Sucanat here)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups red & green candy coated peanut butter pieces (or chocolate)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 13×9 pan and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add butter and mix until well combined and mixture is crumbly. Press about three quarters of mixture onto the bottom of 13×9 pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a small bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk and 1 cup of the candy pieces. Carefully spread evenly over crust. Sprinkle remaining oat mixture over top and then arrange remaining 1/2 cup candy pieces on top as desired.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until turning golden. Let cool completely before cutting into bars.

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~K in the Kitchen